Institutions, Incentives and Conflict in Coffee Forest Use and Conservation : the Case of Yayo Forest in Iluu Abba Bora Zone, Southwest Ethiopia

Ethiopia is home to many endemic plants and animals including the coffee growing ‘wild’ in the montane rainforests of the South and Southwest. The coffee forest is, however, threatened by fast rate of deforestation. The extraction of the resource by the local community for livilihood as well as the use by different stakes of coffee forest for different purposes and the absence of viable institutional arrangement for use and conservation are among factors aggravating deforestation. <br /> This research explores institutions from federal to local level, rules that act either as incentives or disincentives for local users and rules leading to conflicts in coffee forest use and conservation. Institutions at different level, policies and proclamations, property rights and formal rules and regulations imposing disincentives as exogenous variables influence the action arena and leads to interactions and different outcomes. The research deals with institutions both as “the rules of the game” and “players of the game”. Relevant information to the research has been collected in 2007 and 2008 at different times using qualitative and quantitative methods. <br /> Results of this research show that institutions working on coffee forest from federal to local level, mainly the rules governing the coffee forest protected area (PA) cannot sustainably manage the coffee forest and ensure farmer’s subsistence. Instead, they contribute to creating disincentives among the local community and fueling conflicts. The rules are imposed by force through government institutions and cannot sustainably halt loss of biodiversity. In this work, analysis of formal and informal institutions shows that there is a need either to modify existing instititions or establish new ones. This can be done through integration of institutions, both vertically and horizontally, with the objective towards coffee forest biodiversity conservation. There is also a need for revision and practical implementation of forest policies and proclamations in keeping with the interests and customary resource uses of the community. <br /> The research also identifies different rules of the protected area (PA) that act as disincentives and that need to be changed including guidelines that can serve as yardistik in future use and conservation process. The study also shows that there is conflict among government institutions and the local community. The main causes of conflicts in the coffee forest demarcated area are driven by the need to expand coffee farm areas, disagreement over property rights, local community’s dependence on products from the coffee forest for livelihoods and prohibition of harvesting the forest for NTFPs. There is a big gap in the distribution of rights, responsibilities and returns among stakeholders which indicates the marginalization of local communities and their institutions from coffee forest use and conservation process. <br /> Analysis of the protected area (PA) rules and the conflicts created in general show the incompatibility of the current zoning approach with the previous forest use and the peasant’s livelihood. Co-management is suggested as a way forward in resolving conflicts and institutional problems. In efforts to realize this, it is essential to make smooth transition from management of coffee forest by force under the auspices of guards to management by well-designed CFM or co-management system.